Bobber Bay Fishing
Bobber Bay Fishing is a casual simulation game made for VR, Mobile, and Desktop. As the game's sole producer for 2 years, I led development from initial launch and through multiple live-ops updates. The game, which began as a VR-only title, quickly became one of Meta's best performing games on the Horizon Worlds platform.
During the duration of the title being VR-only, the team pushed the boundaries of the bespoke engine and VR hardware, focusing on innovation while maintaining player comfortability with high frame rates and VR-accessible design.
Bobber Bay Fishing began as a small team of 5-7 people, eventually growing to 30+. The shifting team size reflected the fluid scope and demands of the project, which I adjusted to rapidly and often.
Producer
Role
VR & Mobile
Device
Casual Simulation
Genre
PlaySide Studios
Company
Development
The development of Bobber Bay Fishing was a great experience with unique challenges, thanks to the UGC nature of the platform it was hosted on.
As a 2P studio working with Meta, our overarching goal was always to build something that proved the platform tools, and pushed the boundaries of the (mostly) bespoke engine.
While that goal always remained the pillar of our drive, the goals of the product shifted drastically over the duration of development.
I joined Bobber Bay Fishing just before it launched. Thus, the majority of my time spent on the project has been during its live-ops development phase, and I have overseen a dozen updates. Our major updates involved long-spanning content work such as new maps, shop & economy overhauls, and progression mechanics to increase player retention. With these updates came a uniquely challenging external QA process, especially when communicating with multiple QA teams simultaneously (i.e. Meta Content QA, Localization QA, etc) who were all overseas.
From the pitching process, to roadmaps, and finally seeing it through to launch - I supported the team while delivering each update on time and on budget. As the project flourished, these updates grew in complexity over time, with multiple product streams and concurrent update development timelines.
Going from a small, VR-focused team, to a multi-pod team tackling multiple products for this game was a wild ride, and I learnt an incredible amount from the experience.
Client & Co-Dev Management
I worked closely with Meta and a variety of their internal teams to deliver their vision; being the first project on the platform to establish and prove features such as localization, IAP, and LLM integration. Our accomplishments often led to our work being showcased during each yearly Meta Connect event, and helped us develop and maintain an exceptional relationship with our client.
Being keenly organized was integral to this project, as I oversaw the progress of multiple product streams and kept track of their associated dependencies and risks. I ensured that the client was always informed of progress as well as any impacts to development while working on these new/experimental features.
Over the course of development, and thanks to the expansive network of games studios working for Meta on Horizon Worlds, we had a handful of opportunities to co-develop content and features with other 2P studios.
When the need arose for Bobber Bay Fishing to trial an in-world video tutorial, Meta connected us to the Koffeecup team, who were experienced in professional video production. Through back and forth of asset sharing and feedback rounds, we worked together to arrive at an awesome product.
Team Management
The team size grew in major jumps to support scope demands from the client, and while it grew, I took on more responsibility. The cross-functional team, which started as a handful of people, grew to include multiple dedicated experts in every discipline, with half the team being remote or in our other studio (Melbourne).
I managed recurring scrum ceremonies on a 2-week sprint basis; running standups, retros, sprint planning, as well as higher-level responsibilities such as stakeholder reporting, resourcing, and risk mitigation. My main priority was ensuring the team always had clarity and achievable goals, and that their psychological safety was safeguarded, no matter how many hurdles we faced.
As well as supporting the team through active development cycles, I believe it's just as important to take a moment to acknowledge our wins. For every major release, I would work with our People & Culture team to organize meaningful gifts to celebrate the team's hard work and dedication to creating high quality experiences.
